Fantasy and science fiction films have been done so badly, so many
times over the last twenty or thirty years, that I've come to
approach them with very low expectations. And even with those
lowered expectations, Hollywood still usually manages to disappoint.
So when I go into a film like this, I'm looking for two things.
First, does the film manage to believably establish its concept.
Basically, do you buy the premise or not? And second, does it
refrain from doing anything that pulls you out of that suspension of
disbelief? Too often these films have a tendency to inject a touch
of "wink, wink" that reminds you you're watching a genre
film. Thankfully, Reign of Fire
succeeds brilliantly at the first and, with one or two exceptions,
manages to avoid the second pitfall as well.

The place is England, the year 2020. Human civilization has been
ravaged by a scourge once thought to be nothing more than the stuff
of legend. A race of fire-breathing dragons has supplanted Mankind
as the dominant species on the planet. It turns out that the dragons
destroyed the dinosaurs millions of years ago, burning them to ash
and feeding off the remains. Then, when there was nothing left to
eat, most of the dragons died off as well. The rest went
underground, lying dormant until the Earth replenished itself. And
now they've risen to feed again.

Quinn (Christian Bale) saw the first dragon as a boy in London,
years ago. Soon there were millions, and humans were forced to hide
underground themselves to survive after all attempts to destroy the
dragons with the world's military might failed, leaving the planet a
burnt-out ruin. Now, Quinn and his friend Creedy are leading a small
community of survivors, eeking out a meager existence in a
make-shift fortress in Northumberland. But their food supply is
dwindling, and their hopes for long-term survival are fading. Enter
Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) and his cadre of U.S. Army "Irregulars",
who have learned to hunt dragons successfully and have traced their
origin to England. Van Zan and his chopper pilot, Alex (Izabella
Scorupco), have discovered that there's only one male in all the
millions of dragons on Earth. If they kill him, the whole population
will eventually die out.

Knowing this, Van Zan's crafted a desperate plan to bring about
just this result. But he needs more men to get the job done - men he
intends to take from Quinn's community, by force if necessary. So
Van Zan and Quinn find themselves on a collision course, the outcome
of which will determine the fate of the human race. And even if they
can resolve their differences, you can bet that the dragon in
question isn't just going to roll over and die without a fight.

In the hands of second-time feature director Rob Bowman, Reign
of Fire works surprisingly well. Within the first fifteen
minutes, the film has set up its seemingly outlandish premise so
handily, that you have absolutely no trouble buying into the story.
It also treats its B-movie status with A-movie seriousness, and
approaches its story with an energy that's refreshing. Aside from an
obvious nod to The Empire Strikes Back,
which thankfully happens early enough so as not to interfere with
the developing story, Reign
avoids the usual tongue-in-cheek pitfalls of B-movie infamy. The
special effects are generally excellent and the film manages to
conjure up a number of interesting action scenes - there's a couple
of nifty moments in this film that definitely haven't been seen
before on screen.

To be fair, there are also a few plot threads that you have seen
elsewhere, including plenty of parallels in Van Zan to over-zealous
characters in Moby Dick and
Jaws. Most of the characters
in this film are pretty 2D, which hurts its weight a little and
lessens its impact. There are a few clunker lines of dialogue
alongside some good ones. I find it very tough to hear Scorupco's
barely-hidden eastern European accent (Polish I think?) and take her
seriously as a U.S. Army chopper pilot. And more critically, Matthew
McConaughey's performance is miles over the top here, and some
viewers will probably balk at this. But his unabashed zeal in the
role is also part of what makes this film so fun, if you accept it
for what it is. And Bowman's blue collar, atmospheric direction adds
a degree of reality to the action that you rarely see in a film like
this. Bowman cut his teeth directing many of the best episodes of
TV's The X-Files, as well as
that franchise's first feature film, and he uses every bit of the
skills he honed on the small screen to great effect here.

The anamorphic video presentation on the DVD is very solid, with
excellent contrast and well defined shadow detail. There's a lot of
visible grain in the print, but this is, I believe, a stylistic
choice that adds to the grungy feel of the film. Color is accurate,
if mostly muted, again a conscious decision. But when the color does
need to burst vibrantly off the screen, saturation is excellent,
without bleed. There's a noticeable amount of edge-enhancement here,
but it's nothing overly distracting. There's also some light digital
artifacting, but most will never notice it. On the whole, this isn't
reference quality video, but I don't think it's meant to be. It is
quite good for what it is and it services the film very well.
Particularly praiseworthy is the "Archangels" sequence,
involving a stylish and dramatic plunge through the clouds from a
helicopter in pursuit of a dragon.

The audio is also solid on this disc, available in both Dolby
Digital and DTS 5.1 flavors (note that the Dolby 5.1 option is also
available in both English and French). Neither track is going to win
any awards, but both manage to get the job done, with the DTS
version fairing just slightly better than its Dolby counterpart. The
DTS isn't as smooth and natural as it is on some discs, but the
Dolby mix feels a little tighter and more restrained. In both mixes,
the dialogue gets occasionally a little buried in the music and
sound effects during the more aggressive action scenes, but not
distractingly so. Panning is smooth and the surrounds are nicely
active, albeit in a more atmospheric sort of way most of the time.
Low frequency supports the mix well in both tracks, filling in
powerfully on the downbeat of dragon wings for example, and the
rumbling discharge of a breath of flame. This audio is definitely
designed to be played with the volume cranked, whichever 5.1 option
you choose.

Sadly, the extras are limited to about 40 minutes worth of
behind-the-scenes featurettes and a smattering of promo trailers,
all of it non-anamorphic. I would really have liked an audio
commentary, particularly for a film with so original an approach to
its concept as this. Having long followed Bowman's work on The
X-Files, I can tell you that the guy's both thoughtful
and intelligent in his approach to his work, and both aspects are in
evidence in this film. And given McConaughey's campy turn here, it
would have been fun to get the two of them together in a room to
talk about it all.

Still, the featurettes aren't totally uninteresting. Breathing
Life into the Terror is a generic look at the film's
special effects and other design/approach issues, while If
You Can't Take the Heat... reveals the how the production
dealt with all the fire work on the set. The best of the lot is Conversations
with Rob Bowman, which is interesting, hinting at the
things I've mentioned about Bowman above, and serving as a pseudo
commentary look at his approach to filmmaking and his ideas about
effectively thrilling his audience.

Reign of Fire is an undeniably
good popcorn flick and a helluva lotta just plain fun. If you
don't like it, it certainly isn't because the filmmakers didn't give
their all. The film is right at home among other such B-grade gems
as The Arrival, Pitch
Black and the recent Impostor.
But this DVD is glaring underachievement. You can forgive Buena
Vista for giving it short shrift, I suppose, if you consider the
film's lackluster box office performance. But this is another prime
example of a situation where marketing execs looking at spread
sheets have been given way too much authority over the DVD release.
In the hands of a studio with a more thoughtful, intelligent
approach to this format (Anchor Bay anyone?), this is exactly the
kind of film that could really find its legs on home video. I'm
guessing Reign of Fire will
eventually pick up a pretty enthusiastic following on DVD. I
certainly hope so, because it's much deserving of a second (or
should I say first) look by a larger audience. It's just too bad
those potential fans have so little to look forward to from this
disc.